Gem Chat with Alotta Diamonds: 2015 Pearl Trends

Pearl jewelry is reaching iconic status as the perfect wardrobe must-have staple of timeless quality and beauty, as well as newfound versatility, not only with respect to colors and shapes, but also wearability with everything from swimwear to jeans to cocktail dresses to classic wedding attire.  Its fan base is diverse and ever expanding across the globe.

Pearl jewelry has immense staying power.  Pearls can stand alone or enhance precious metals and other gems.  The luster and reflective qualities of pearls, together with natural and dyed colors and interesting shapes resulting from high-tech pearl farming techniques, are driving design fever from occasional beaders to elite high-end jewelry makers.

Supply and Demand Cause Pearl Prices to Escalate

Variety of natural color freshwater and saltwater pearls adorn classic collection necklace and bracelet by Arpaia Lang.

The growing Asian demand for pearl jewelry, and just about everywhere, has caused a dramatically short supply of the better pearl qualities and certain sizes. As a result, pearl prices have risen steadily across all pearl types and qualities.

In addition, natural events like typhoons have caused saltwater pearl shortages, which has sharply increased their prices. White South Sea prices hiked nearly 40% at the wholesale level; that translates to double retail prices for South Sea jewelry. Also the shortage of certain Tahitian pearls has caused both the wholesale and retail markets to rise accordingly.

And there are also huge price increases in the freshwater pearl market mainly due to two factors. One is that production costs have risen so dramatically that it has caused an entire change on what type of freshwater pearls farmers attempt to achieve. As a direct consequence, many styles of freshwater pearls are disappearing from the market. 

The second main reason for higher freshwater pearl prices is that the new Chinese middle class who has never worn jewelry before are now eager and able to buy it, and they have a keen preference for pearl jewelry and are willing to pay more for pearls than buyers in other areas of the world. Many Chinese pearl purveyors are chosing to sell their products locally because their profit margin is higher than if they exported their products and their costs are lower too if they do not need to deal with overseas markets.

As many of our clients know, Arpaia Lang traveled to Hong Kong prior to these major price developments solely to obtain the best pricing and finest qualities of a huge variety of pearls. During our stay, we developed essential lasting connections with major producers and dealers in the Chinese, Japanese, South Sea and Tahitian pearl industry. We have maintained these stellar relationships and continue to procure the finest pearls at the best prices for our original jewelry designs.